As more travelers of all generations start to ask, “How can my trip or vacation be a force for good?” and “What choices can I make when I travel that will generate a positive impact?” The travel industry can respond by guiding them to social enterprises.

Social enterprises are businesses that seek to maximize profits while maximizing benefits to society and the environment.

Because the travel industry integrates so many different types of suppliers - shopping, eating, accommodations, transportation, and experiences - there is a tremendous opportunity to select suppliers who are intentionally using their business for the benefit of their local people and communities. When we actively integrate social enterprises into tourism, we:

Provide visitors with authentic and engaging experiences
Keep money in the local communities
Empower local people to positively impact their destination in their own way
Improve - not detract - from the resiliency and spirit of a community
Create a virtuous cycle where tourism is viewed as a good thing, thus improving the visitor experience

Adding meaningful travel elements, such as social enterprises, to your supply chain creates a win-win-win scenario for your business, destinations, and travelers.

How do Social Enterprises Benefit Travel Destinations?

Social enterprises generate positive impact through innovative, creative products and services. They can also employ those with significant barriers to employment opportunities. Lastly, some social enterprises operate like normal businesses but give a large percentage of their profits to their designated cause.

How to Recognize + Support Social Enterprises:

Are social enterprises non-profits? Social enterprises can be non-profit or for-profit organizations. Regardless, they always generate revenue, often by selling a socially-conscious product or service to address a social (or environmental) need. They differ from many non-profits in that their revenue model is similar to a business enterprise, whereas grants or donations play a smaller role. Non-profits, on the other hand, have legal limits on earned income.

Is this the same as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Social enterprises differ from for-profit businesses with corporate social responsibility programs in the sense that the social enterprise’s primary objective (their reason for existing) is to create social or environmental impact versus shareholder value or profits for owners. CSR is a great way for many businesses to support relevant causes or development goals, but it is generally not central to the organization’s mission and vision.

How can I support a social enterprise? The best way to support social enterprises is to utilize their offerings. Add them to an itinerary (you can use the Tourism Cares Meaningful Travel Map to find social enterprises and other impact organizations). Use them as local vendors. Promote them to your partners. Really, do anything you can to add them to the travel and tourism value chain.

Examples of Social Enterprises in Travel

Café Reconcile - New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

(Featured partner in Tourism Cares for New Orleans event in 2018)

Café Reconcile is a restaurant and a community of New Orleanians dedicated to helping break the cycle of generational poverty, violence, and neglect to build hope and change lives. They support the professional development of at-risk young adults who want to make positive changes in their lives. They offer an 8-week training program, support systems, and business experience working in the vibrant and soulful Café Reconcile restaurant, which serves up culturally rich dishes to guests. This paid program includes hands-on job training, daily meals, employment counseling, health care navigation, mental health counseling, and more to achieve personal, workforce, and economic development within the community.

IMPULSE Travel - Chapinero, Bogota, Colombia

(Featured partner in Tourism Cares’ Meaningful Travel Summit with Colombia in 2021)

IMPULSE Travel is a travel experience provider that creates, operates, and promotes tours and experiences that pair local creators, connectors, and storytellers with travelers craving an authentic experience. The goal is to empower locals, inspire visitors, and support economic growth. Tourists can experience opportunities like visiting local artists and community leaders rafting with ex-FARC members to reintegrate them into society and meeting those who are preserving local culture through food. IMPULSE Travel illustrates that there are viable alternatives to income generation and livelihood generation as it relates to gangs and violence. Through 2021, IMPULSE Travel has generated $186,688 for its 35 partner communities and touched the lives of 7,067 travelers with their impactful products!

Concalma - San Juan, Puerto Rico

(Featured in Tourism Cares for Puerto Rico Meaningful Travel Summit in 2019)

Concalma, meaning “with calm,” is a designer brand focused on raising awareness for the importance of fair trade, local design and manufacturing, and sustainable practices in the retail space. The company achieves this, in part, by creating its bag line through Cooperativa Industrial Creación de la Montaña, a manufacturing facility and non-profit organization that was opened with local capital to give back some of the jobs that were lost due to the closing of two large manufacturing factories in the area. The all-female facility ensures fair trade by offering healthy conditions, fair wages, and no child labor. In its brick-and-mortar store, Concalma sells products and designs of Puerto Rican locals alongside its own line to support locals and assure cultural diversity.

How Can Travel Professionals Find Social Enterprises to Support?

With a little curiosity and effort, travel advisors, tour operators or tourism professionals can plan meaningful travel with the power of the dollar.

Start with Tourism Cares’ Meaningful Travel Map, a B2B tool that helps the travel trade and sustainably-minded travelers easily source organizations making positive social and environmental impacts in destinations.
The Guide to Meaningful Travel Product is an in-depth handbook for identifying and integrating meaningful travel product, including social enterprises.
Ask the destination’s Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) or Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), as some are becoming more aware of these types of organizations.
A quick Google search of “list of social enterprises in [desired region]” is an easy way to help with your search.

Continue the Conversation:

The best thing we can do is to continue this conversation — ask the question to travelers, travel advisors, and destination management organizations. Show your concern and demonstrate that this demand is worth exploring. Join us at an event, sign up for our newsletter, but most importantly, integrate what you have learned into the business decisions you make every day. Together, we can use travel as a force for good.

Special thanks to Anita Mendriatta, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General, UNWTO, and Board Member of Tourism Cares, for inspiring the essence of this blogpost.

This post was edited and updated in October 2023

How to Use Social Enterprises in Travel